Water and sewer bills set to climb

Water and sewer rates in Boston could increase this week by an average of nearly 10 percent, the largest hike in a decade.

The planned increase mirrors hikes in other communities served by the debt-heavy Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. Additional increases are projected for the next several years.

''The future does not look very bright," said Joseph E. Favaloro, executive director of the MWRA Advisory Board, which represents the 60 cities and towns in Eastern Massachusetts served by the utility.

For Boston residents, the expected increase follows news that property tax increases will rise an average of 9.2 percent next year. The Boston Water and Sewer Commission, which must approve the increase, held a hearing on the proposed 9.85 percent average hike last night and could vote on it as soon as tomorrow.

The increase would translate into a monthly bill of about $54 for a family of four that uses 180 gallons of water a day. That's up $2.88 per month. Because owners of single-family houses pay a reduced rate, their increase will be less than the average hike of 9.85 percent.

The increase in water and sewer rates for Boston is proposed as municipalites served by the MWRA are paying for the costs of cleaning up Boston Harbor and the construction of the Deer Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, the $3.8 billion project that became fully operational in 2001.

The MWRA Advisory Board, a watchdog agency, released its annual survey of water and sewer rates Monday, which found that 2005 rate hikes averaged 6.3 percent.

The MWRA increases are widespread, the board found, with Northborough and Malden showing sewer and water rate increases this year of 27 and 21 percent, respectively. Some communities -- such as Watertown, Ashland, and Everett -- saw no increases.

The communities that are served by the MWRA set their water and sewer rates individually, with some communities weighing such factors as previous increases and the local economy. But a key factor is the assessment they pay to the MWRA.

The advisory board survey, which examines average combined water and sewer costs, estimates that rates could rise more than 44 percent in the next five years if something is not done to stop the increases and pay off the utility's high debt load.

Under the five-year scenario, the city of Boston, the MWRA's biggest user, would have a 44.6 percent increase in assessments, or a $67.5 million increase in its payments for water and sewer service to the city, according to the survey.

The MWRA advisory board plans to use the survey to lobby Governor Mitt Romney and state legislators to fully fund a state-sponsored sewer rate relief fund to pay off the MWRA's debt service and keep sewer and water rates low. The money was eliminated by Governor Jane Swift during a 2002 budget crisis.

Since that cut, the program has been partially funded by the Legislature; $12.5 million is earmarked in the 2006 budget.

The fund had been used to keep rate hikes in check as the MWRA attempts to pay off its debt of more than $6 billion.

Currently the utility spends 60 cents of every $1 it receives from communities to pay the debt service on past projects.

''The first step here is you can't begin to get to a solution until you fully understand the depth of the problem," Favaloro said. ''At the MWRA, it's debt, debt, and more debt."

Over the past six weeks, members of the advisory board have visited officials in 48 communities in what Favaloro said was a grass-roots effort to ''put rates back on the radar screen."

The members are lobbying for $25 million for next year's budget.

Romney's spokeswoman, Julie Teer, said yesterday that the governor would have no comment.

The rate hikes are not the only added costs that homeowners face. An effort to replace inaccurate water meters has caused some water and sewer bills to skyrocket, in some cases by as much as $300.

MWRA officials said yesterday they are trying to curb rate hikes while paying off the debt. ''The fewer projects we build, the fewer projects we have to borrow money for," said MWRA spokeswoman Ria Convery.

Delaying some projects and cutting staff by 30 percent has helped, she said, but not enough.

Despite the huge rate increase, Malden assistant city engineer Gary Stead said he has not been barraged with complaints, mainly because the city once had one of the lowest water and sewer rates in the country.

''We do have a fair amount of people who see their bill going up and wonder why?" he said. ''We tend to tell them to watch their usage, but that doesn't really appease them. You do get some of that, but not a lot."

Mac Daniel can be reached at mdaniel@globe.com.